


to forever

by kihyuks



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Childhood Friends, Cuddling & Snuggling, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, First Dates, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Holding Hands, Multi, Nonbinary Character, Trans Female Character, farms, its actually sangah/minji/dior
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:41:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24854779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kihyuks/pseuds/kihyuks
Summary: sangah and her best friend, minji, are assigned to work on their semester-long music project with dior, who sangah happens to hold a huge a pretty big grudge against. as time goes on, sangah realises that maybe she's just been repressing her feelings a little bit.
Relationships: Im Changkyun | I.M/Lee Jooheon, Im Changkyun | I.M/Lee Jooheon/Lee Minhyuk, Im Changkyun | I.M/Lee Minhyuk, Lee Jooheon/Lee Minhyuk
Comments: 8
Kudos: 24





	to forever

**Author's Note:**

  * For [taelights](https://archiveofourown.org/users/taelights/gifts).



> to sarah: happy birthday!!! i hope you have a wonderful day n enjoy this dumb lesbians in love fic HSDHJH

“I don’t want to work with  _ her _ ,” Sangah complains, slumping against Minji. “She doesn’t like me.”

Minji twirls the ends of Sangah’s hair around their fingers, soothing Sangah. “I think it’s more like you don’t like her.”

“I like her,” Sangah insists, but then sighs and changes her mind. “Okay, I don’t  _ like _ her, but I don’t dislike her. She just seems mean and she ignored me when I said hi to her.”

The story of what happened between Sangah and Dior is one that Sangah has brought up to Minji many a time, as if Minji wasn’t there to witness it. You see, the day that Sangah first met Dior was also the first day she attended a meeting their LGBTQ+ society put on. They happen weekly and have done since Sangah started university, but it took her an entire year before she found the confidence to finally attend a meeting herself. Although Minji had been attending and they kept insisting that Sangah come along, it took her a long time until finally she gave in.

It had been nerve wracking, incredibly so, walking into a room full of strangers, but she had Minji by her side and she knew that all these people are like  _ her _ , people who she can relate to, and those two things gave her enough confidence to walk through that door.

And then she’d even found confidence to talk to the pretty girl with the perfectly styled curls, only for the girl to stare at her blankly and then run away.

The girl’s name was Dior, Sangah later found out. 

“You hold grudges,” Minji says with a laugh, tugging Sangah’s hair slightly. “It’s not good for you.”

“I thought she was pretty and she ignored me. That’s a wound on my heart that I’ll never heal from,” Sangah complains dramatically. She lets herself slide further down Minji’s side, forcing Minji to hold her to keep her from slipping off of the bed, but then Minji lets out a giggle and Sangah goes tumbling to the floor. She scowls up at Minji, who’s hiding a laugh behind their hand. “You’re so mean to me.”

“You did it to yourself,” they say, still giggling. 

Sangah rolls her eyes, but she can’t help but laugh too. It’s not the first time she’s fallen out of Minji’s bed and it certainly won’t be the last. “Help me up, at least.”

Minji leans over the end of their bed and holds their hand out, which Sangah gladly takes. Minji pulls Sangah up off the floor, but they tug too hard and Sangah ends up falling on top of them. 

Sangah laughs loudly and freely and boops the end of Minji’s nose. “You’re dumb.”

“Dumb but cute?” they ask, poking a finger to their dimple as if that’s necessary to make them cute.

“Very cute, always,” Sangah agrees easily. Minji might be one of the cutest people Sangah’s ever met, and she does her best to remind Minji of that at every given opportunity. 

The distraction from falling only lasts so long before Sangah remembers why she even came to Minji’s flat in the first place. “Is there really no one else we can do the project with?” Maybe Sangah’s being a little bit ridiculous about the whole situation, but it had been a huge hit to her self esteem to be outright rejected by Dior like that, even if it had just been Sangah saying hi to her.

“I mean, you were there, groups were assigned. We’re lucky we got to work together.”

“You mean I’m lucky, working with the best producer on campus,” Sangah says teasingly, always finding an opportunity to throw a compliment Minji’s way just to see the adorable blush that always rises to their cheeks. 

And sure enough, Minji’s cheeks turn a bright pink colour. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?” Sangah asks, stroking a stray strand of hair out of Minji’s face. “Tell you about how great you are and how you’re my best friend and how much I love you?”

Minji covers their face with their hands and groans.

Sangah grins triumphantly. “You’re so easy.”

“Shut up,” Minji mumbles, their speech muffled by their hands that are still covering their face. “I hate you.”

Sangah gasps dramatically. “You hate me? My own best friend? Hating me?”

“ _ Sangah,” _ Minji whines.

“Okay, okay, I’m done.” Sangah goes to hold her hands up but forgets that her weight was resting on her hands, and so as soon as she lifts them she falls against Minji with an ‘oof’. Sangah buries her face into Minji’s chest in embarrassment and she can hear Minji’s heart beating quickly in their chest. “Why’s your heart beating so fast?” Sangah asks in a whisper, feeling like she’s asking for a secret and that she shouldn’t speak any louder, despite the fact that there’s no one else in the room as Minji lives alone. 

“I don’t know,” Minji replies.

Sangah lifts her head and looks into Minji’s eyes. “I love you, you know?” She doesn’t know what it is that makes her choose that moment to say it, but Sangah is overcome with the need to remind Minji how important they are to her.

“I know. I love you, too.”

“Good,” Sangah says with a smile. She pinches Minji’s cheek and then rolls over so she’s no longer crushing Minji beneath her and instead they’re lying side by side. “I’m worried about doing this project,” Sangah admits in a small voice after a few minutes. “I don’t think my skills are good enough. And what if I suck and Dior judges me?”

Minji’s hand finds Sangah’s and squeezes it reassuringly. “You’re an amazing producer  _ and _ an amazing rapper, so you don’t need to worry about that. And Dior isn’t judgy, even if you’ve convinced yourself she is.”

“She’s intimidating,” Sangah says. “Intimidating people are judgy.”

“She’s not judgy, Sangah.”

Sangah can hear the annoyance creeping into Minji’s voice. She knows that Minji is friends with Dior and she has some unwarranted judgements about Dior herself that she probably needs to let go of, but she really does know how to hold a grudge, and this grudge she has against Dior just won’t seem to go away.

“Just try be nice to her, yeah? I think you’d actually get along well, if you tried.”

Sangah isn’t so sure, but she gives Minji’s hand a squeeze in thanks anyway. She can only hope that working on this project with Dior isn’t as bad as she’s built up that it’s going to be in her head. 

* * *

“Be nice, okay?” Minji warns one last time, giving Sangah a look that tells her she definitely shouldn’t mess with them on this, and then they push open the door to the cafe and let Sangah enter first before following her in. 

Sangah looks around the cafe to see if Dior’s already arrived and, sure enough, she’s sitting alone in a booth, head resting on her hand as she stares boredly into the distance. Sangah takes a deep breath to prepare herself, and then approaches Dior’s table. “Hi,” she says simply, taking a seat opposite Dior in the booth.

Dior gives her a small smile and Sangah momentarily forgets that she supposedly dislikes Dior as her brain is filled with thoughts of ‘holy  _ fuck _ she’s so pretty’. “Hi, Sangah. Hi, Minji.”

“Hey, Dior,” Minji greets. They slide into the booth beside Sangah and put a hand on her thigh and squeeze it before releasing her, and Sangah can’t tell if it’s meant to be a warning or comfort her. “So, had any ideas for the project?” It’s directed at Dior as Sangah and Minji have already spoken about it together a bit.

“Well, it’s probably cheesy, but I was thinking a love song? Maybe something a little mellow and lots of yearning,” Dior suggests. She doesn’t look at either of them as she says it, just plays with the bracelet around her wrist.

“The true lesbian mood, nothing but yearning,” Minji jokes. 

Dior looks up at that and a smile appears on her face again. 

“I like it. A love song sounds fun. Sangah?” Minji says.

Sangah shrugs a shoulder. “Sure, whatever.”

Dior frowns at Sangah, as does Minji (but their frown is far angrier than Dior’s is) but Sangah ignores them both. She doesn’t want to do this project and she doesn’t want to have to talk to Dior, so she doesn’t see why she should put the effort in. 

“Uh, okay, well, I guess then we figure out who’s going to do what,” Dior says. Then, suddenly, she clicks her fingers. “Shit, wait, I forgot to offer to get you guys something. Drinks? A cake? What do you want?”

“If you could grab me a hot chocolate that’d be wonderful,” Minji says with their classic award-winning smile, dimples and all on show. 

“Of course.” Dior slides out from the booth and smooths her skirt down, then looks up at Sangah. “What about you?”

“No, thanks,” Sangah says, a little too snappily.

Dior looks taken aback, but she quickly wipes the expression off her face. “Okay, no worries. I’ll be back in a second.”

As soon as Dior is out of earshot Minji turns to Sangah with an unimpressed look on their face. “Really, Sangah? Really?”

Sangah feigns dumb. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“You’re being unnecessarily mean. She’s only trying to be nice to you.”

Sangah doesn’t want to hear any of this, because she  _ knows _ she’s being too harsh to Dior, but the hurt she felt when Dior ignored her still sends a pang through her heart. She can’t help but hold that grudge against Dior, even if she knows she should be the bigger person.

But the amount of hurt she felt when she was  _ so _ excited to think she was finally going to be able to have a friend just like her, another lesbian trans girl, only to be completely ignored just won’t go away.

Sangah’s sure that Dior is nice, Minji wouldn’t be friends with her otherwise, but that doesn’t mean Sangah wants to make an effort. Go ahead, sue her.

Dior returns with the hot chocolate that Minji had requested as well as a cookie, which she places in front of Sangah. “I know you said you don’t want anything, but I always see you eating cookies at society so I thought I’d get you one anyway.”

All the dislike and anger that Sangah had felt towards Dior fades for a moment, only to be replaced with pure suspicion. Why is Dior being so nice to her now? Is there some ulterior motive to it? But, Sangah ignores these thoughts for now, because there’s one that stands out more than others - Dior actually notices Sangah enough to know that she’s always eating cookies. “Thanks, Dior, that’s really nice of you.”

As Sangah munches away at her cookie, Minji and Dior jump into discussing how they’re going to work on the project and split it between them.

“Can you sing?” Minji asks Dior.

“I try to, but I don’t know if I’m any good.” She seems shy about it. “What about you?”

“I can sing and rap,” Minji says. “Sangah raps, too.”

Dior’s eyes widen in shock and she claps happily. “You can both rap? That’s so cool.”

Sangah squints her eyes at Dior, the suspicion growing ever so slightly. Why does Dior seem so  _ nice _ ? Why does she seem so genuinely interested when they’re only working together for a project? It’s strange. 

“Minji’s amazing at producing,” Sangah says, properly contributing to the discussion for the first time now that her cookie is gone. “Minji and I can write our own rap verses and we can work together on the rest of the song, if you’re up to writing some lyrics.”

Dior nods enthusiastically. “I’ve never done it before, but I’m willing to try.”

“Do you have samples?” Minji asks. “It’d be good to know what your vocals are like before we jump into it so I can work out a melody that’d best fit your vocals. You’re okay doing most of the vocal work, right?”

Dior looks nervous, unsure, but she nods anyway. “Of course. You both are the musicians, not me, so I’ll have to make up for it somehow.”

“That’s settled, then,” Minji says. There’s a proud, happy look on their face and Sangah can already see that they’re working through ideas for what they could possibly create for the song in their mind. There’s no one Sangah knows that’s as enthusiastic and in love with music as Minji is, and it’s adorable to watch them when they’re in their element.

“I have to go because I’ve got dance soon,” Dior says, already grabbing her bags and sliding out of the booth. “I’ll send over some samples, though, and I’ll text you guys as well to meet up again to work on it more.” With a wave of her perfectly manicured nails, Dior is out the door of the cafe.

Minji turns to Sangah with a satisfied look on their face. “Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?”

Sangah can’t deny that, but she wants to keep her dignity, so she doesn’t honour Minji with a reply. Instead, she messes up their hair with a laugh.

* * *

Sangah’s been doing her very best to ignore everything related to their project for the past week, instead focusing on doing work for her other classes (and, well, an incredible amount of Netflix consumption) but that time has unfortunately come to an end. She’d refused to answer the group chat about their project and  _ still _ hasn’t listened to Dior’s samples, which is why Minji is now standing at her door, looking unimpressed. 

“You’re the worst, you know that, right?” Minji says. They don’t wait for an invitation to come in, instead slipping past Sangah and making themself at home on Sangah’s bed. 

“I know.” Sangah shuts the door behind her and sits down next to Minji. “I assume you came to yell at me about the project?”

Minji laughs. “At least you’re self aware enough to know that.”

Sangah feels guilt eat away at her for refusing to work on the project and for ignoring it so much that Minji’s had to come all the way to her flat to deal with it. “I’m sorry.”

Minji squeezes her bicep. “I get it, okay, but this project counts as 50% of our grade and I’m sure you want to do well on it like I do.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Sangah agrees. “What do we need to do?”

“I didn’t listen to Dior’s samples yet because I thought we could listen together,” Minji says, pulling their phone out of their pocket to bring up Dior’s messages where she’d sent the samples. “We can see what her voice is like and then go from there, because we can both adapt quite easily.”

Sangah nods. Minji and Sangah are the ones who produce music all the time, while Dior is just interested in it but hasn’t had the experience (she explained this over their group chat, which despite not replying to Sangah has been reading all the notifications for), so it only makes sense to work to Dior’s strengths as they’re both adaptable. 

Minji starts to play one of the songs that Dior had sent over, a cover of a song that Sangah’s never heard of before, and she’s shocked when she hears just how nice Dior’s voice is. There’s a huskiness to her tone that Sangah hadn’t noticed when she’d heard Dior speak, but is far more pronounced as she sings.

As much as Sangah doesn’t want to admit it, Dior’s voice is really pretty and she thinks they can make a really good track with her doing the vocals. 

Before the first song even ends Sangah is running across her room to grab a notepad she left on her desk. She jumps back onto the bed next to Minji, much to their confusion about what she’s doing, and starts scribbling down ideas for lyrics and themes that would work well in a song with Dior singing it. 

She scribbles things down all the way through the three covers that Dior had sent over playing and then once they’re over she finds herself sad that there isn’t more to listen to. She quickly wipes that thought from her mind, though.

“She’s  _ good _ ,” Minji says after the two sit for a few moments in silence. “Really good.”

“She is,” Sangah reluctantly agrees. (But is it reluctant anymore? Does she really dislike Dior as much as she’s always claimed? Maybe her grudge is finally fading now she’s had the chance to actually speak to Dior, but that’s a thought for another day.) 

“What did you write down?”

Sangah shows Minji her notebook. Her handwriting is hardly even legible, but Minji’s had practice over the many years of knowing Sangah and so she’s able to read it no problem. “We can make something really good, I think.”

Minji gives a triumphant smile, one that suggests they knew this moment would come eventually. “I’m shocked by how much effort you’re putting into this now. Are you finally over your hating Dior phase?”

Sangah scowls. “I don’t hate her. I’ve just decided she’s my enemy.”

Minji rolls their eyes. “You suck.”

“I do, but I give good cuddles.” To prove her point, Sangah tackles Minji so they’re forced to lie down on her bed and squeezes her arms around their waist and snuggles her head into Minji’s neck. “See? Best cuddler.”

Minji laughs, loud and carefree, and puts their hands over Sangah’s and squeezes. “Definitely the best.” There’s a pause and Sangah can  _ feel _ that there’s a smirk on Minji’s face even if she can’t see it. “Maybe Dior will find out one day, hmm?”

Sangah groans and wonders how she can go about finding a best friend who won’t tease her during cuddling sessions, because that most definitely shouldn’t be allowed.

* * *

It’s nearing two weeks since they first met up to discuss their project and they haven’t found another time to meet up because Dior is constantly busy with extracurricular activities, and any time she manages to find that’s free either Sangah or Minji find themselves busy instead.

Sangah surprisingly finds herself frustrated at the lack of time they can find to work on their project because after listening to Dior’s samples she finds herself weirdly excited to get working on the song. Fortunately, though, they have the whole semester to get it completed, so it’s not like they’re on a time limit or anything, but still.

The exhaustion from the amount of work Sangah’s had to do since the semester started is beginning to get to her, too. She finds that somehow she’s busier than she ever was. So, she’s glad when it comes time for the weekly LGBT+ society meeting as it’s her one chance to properly relax during the week and just have fun for a bit. 

Sangah and Minji take a seat together at the back of the room on the lumpy sofa that they always find themselves gravitating towards, even though they both end up whining about back pain after sitting on it. Sangah scans around the room and notes that not many people are here yet, but Wonhee and Yeojoo, Dior’s best friends, are chatting on the other side of the room. Sangah gives them both a smile and wave when they spot her looking. 

She can’t help but notice that Dior isn’t with them and she wonders whether she’s coming today because it feels like it’s been forever since she’s seen Dior around.

_ Wait _ . Is Sangah… missing Dior? This can’t be. And yet, she finds herself wishing Dior was here just so she could maybe smile at her and try to have a bit of a conversation. 

Those samples Dior sent really have changed Sangah as a person, it seems. (Or maybe she’s never really disliked Dior and the attraction she felt to her never really went away but she’s been denying it to herself for the sake of holding that dumb grudge that feels so irrelevant now.)

“You looking for someone?” Minji asks, and there’s this look on their face that tells Sangah she’s got teasing to come her way and she’s very much  _ not _ looking forward to it. 

“No. Are you?” Great comeback there, Sangah. A real zinger. 

Minji looks around the room briefly, and then back to Sangah. “I’m wondering where Dior is. Are you?” Minji raises their eyebrow in a challenge and Sangah resists a groan.

“No.” (She is.) “Why would I be looking for her?”

“I don’t know,” Minji says dismissively, picking at the cuticles of their nails. “Maybe you have a crush on her?”

Sangah tackles Minji and they both tumble to the floor, Minji laughing loudly while Sangah just grumbles under her breath about how Minji is the worst and she needs to find a new best friend. Typical behaviour for the both of them, basically. 

Sangah pins Minji’s arms down above their head and leans over them with a smirk. “I win.”

Minji says nothing, just stares up at Sangah.

Dior chooses that exact moment to arrive at the meeting.

Sangah sees a shadow pass by her vision so she turns her head to look up and sees Dior looking down at the two of them in amusement. “Hi, Dior,” Sangah says sheepishly.

“Hey,” Dior replies, that amused look only growing. “Am I interrupting something?”

Sangah finally makes the move to get off of Minji and holds out her hand to help them up after she stands herself. She brushes down the front of her shirt where it’s all crumpled and says, “We were just…”

“Wrestling. Yeah,” Minji finishes.

Dior looks between the two of them with a raised eyebrow, clearly not taking them seriously at all. “I see. Can I join the two of you?”

Sangah’s eyes widen and Dior bursts into laughter.

“Not to ‘wrestle’ or whatever it is that you were really doing. I meant, like, to sit.” Her voice trails off towards the end, fading into shyness that Sangah hardly ever sees Dior exhibit.

Despite claiming that Dior’s been her enemy for the entire time she’s known her, Sangah’s always noticed Dior whenever she’s been in a room, and the main thing she’s noticed is that Dior just exudes confidence. If anyone tries to say anything bad to her, Dior always comes back with something that has them instantly backing away, and she has no problem approaching anyone and everyone for anything she might need. The type of confidence that Dior always shows is a confidence that Sangah so greatly envies.

But that also makes it so much more shocking to see Dior acting so uncharacteristically shy. 

“Don’t you want to sit with your friends?” Sangah asks, gesturing to Wonhee and Yeojoo across the room who are definitely watching the three of them and failing to hide it even though they’re making an attempt to.

Dior’s face falls. “I can leave if you want.”

“That’s not what she means.” Minji is quick to come to Sangah’s rescue. “She’s just dumb and doesn’t know why you’d choose to sit with us over your friends.”

A look is shared between Dior and Minji that feels important and like something Sangah is left out of, but she doesn’t have time to question it before the conversation is continuing.

“Oh, well, I mean, we can be friends too?” Dior fiddles with a hairband on her wrist as she speaks. “Or I can leave.” The last part is definitely directed at Sangah and she feels incredibly guilty for how she’s been treating Dior all this time.

“Stay with us,” Sangah says and the decision is made. 

The three of them squeeze onto the sofa together, which is a two-seater and so it’s a tight squeeze for the three of them, and Sangah finds herself in the middle somehow, both sides of her body pressed closely against Minji and Dior beside her. 

Sangah instantly wants to run away. But, she doesn’t, and instead she says, “So…”

“So,” Minji repeats.

Sangah and Minji look to Dior, who just smiles. “So?”

The three all start laughing loudly, garnering the attention of everyone in the room, but they don’t care. It’s awkward when the three of them are together, still not knowing what to talk about outside of the project and with Sangah and Dior’s weird one-sided ‘enemy’ relationship, but the awkwardness works for them somehow, and Sangah finds herself laughing louder and feeling happier and freer than she has in a long time.

* * *

“You already wrote a song?” Dior’s jaw drops as she says it.

Sangah looks at Minji and then nods. “We got inspired. Your voice is really nice and between us it wasn’t hard to come up with a song.”

Dior realises that she hasn’t let Sangah and Minji inside yet, so she moves out the way of the door to let the two of them into her flat. It’s not messy, but it’s quite obvious that she’s not one to keep it tidy, but has made the effort to hide that fact from her visitors. Sangah can see things shoved under her bed and desk to hide them away and it’s cute how she made the effort to try and tidy up after they last minute found time to meet up together to discuss their project and Dior’s flat was the easiest location for all of them to meet. 

Dior leads the two of them over to a small fold out table which is surrounded by chairs. She takes a seat at it and so Sangah and Minji do the same. “Sorry it’s not the best. I never really have anyone over so I have nowhere to really sit. Oh, I ordered a pizza, by the way.”

“How much was it?” Minji asks, already pulling their phone out of their pocket to bring up whatever app Dior prefers to send over the money. 

“It’s on me,” Dior insists.

Minji looks like they’re going to argue, but then they put their phone away instead. “About the song, by the way, it’ll need tweaking. We can all listen together and you can give any suggestions because it’s a song for the three of us, not just Sangah and I.”

“I don’t know much about music, honestly, so I think you two will have done a fine job.”

Minji nods. “Still, anything you want to change or anything just say.” They bring up the demo of the song they created and start to play it.

Sangah watches Dior’s face as she listens to the demo. It’s a rough version, with Minji filling in for Dior’s parts and Sangah’s rap isn’t anywhere near as polished as she’d like it to be, but Dior seems like she’s enjoying it regardless.

When it does get to Sangah’s part in the song she finds herself feeling embarrassed and shy that Dior’s actually listening to her rapping. There’s very few people Sangah’s felt confident enough to share her skills with, so to have a new person listening is incredibly nerve wracking. 

When the song ends, Dior’s face lights up. “I love it! This is so good. I feel like it’ll fit my voice well. I’m excited to get recording already.”

Sangah and Minji beam, happy with the approval of their work.

Then, Minji’s phone starts ringing. They take one look at the caller ID and then their face pales and they’re quick to answer. “Hey, Mum. What’s going on?”

There’s a lot of talking on the other end that Sangah isn’t able to make out, but Minji’s face gets paler and paler the more time that passes.

Eventually, they hang up and say, “I’m sorry, I have to go. Emergency at home.”

“Is everything okay?” Sangah asks, reaching out to put a comforting hand on Minji’s arm.

Minji’s smile is strained, but they nod. “Mum’s just not well. She told me not to go home, but I’m worried about her so I’m going to go check on her even though it’s probably nothing.”

Sangah knows that Minji worries about their mum a lot, so it doesn’t surprise her that Minji wants to go home to check on her. “Tell me when you get back and let your mum know I said hi, yeah?”

Minji nods, apologises once more for having to leave so soon, and then is out the door. 

Which leaves Sangah and Dior alone together. 

Neither of them speak. They haven’t spent any time together without Minji being there as a buffer and Sangah has never felt so awkward in her life. She debates finding an excuse to leave too, but then she remembers that Dior ordered pizza for the three of them and she can’t just leave when Dior’s gone out of her way to be kind.

But what if Dior doesn’t even want her here?

Sangah’s internal conflict is interrupted by the doorbell sounding. Dior is quick to answer it, and when she returns she has two boxes of pizza in hand. She puts them both down on the table and takes her seat again. “I didn’t know what you’d both like so I got one with meat and also a meat and dairy free one, just in case.”

“I’ll take the second. Thank you.”

More awkward silence follows, but this time Sangah is at least able to occupy herself by eating pizza, and Dior seems to be doing the same. Every now and then Sangah will steal a glance at Dior, but they end up locking eyes each time and it feels even more awkward.

Many slices of pizza later, Dior sighs and Sangah finally looks properly at her. “Are we going to finally talk about it?” Dior asks.

Sangah frowns. “About what?”

“About the fact you clearly don’t like me.”

Well, Dior sure is blunt and to the point. Sangah swallows, suddenly nervous for some reason. She never expected she’d actually be confronted about the way she’s been acting around Dior. She didn’t think it was that obvious, but either Dior is more observant than Sangah expected or she’s far more obvious than she thinks she is. 

“It’s dumb,” Sangah says. 

Dior gives an amused smile. “Try me.”

Sangah really doesn’t want to tell the story, because she knows it’s probably going to sound pathetic, but she can’t hide it forever. Dior deserves to know the truth. “When we met on that first day at society I was super looking forward to talking to you because, well, it’s not like there are many trans girl lesbians around here, are there?” 

Dior laughs, amused. “You got that right. What’s the problem, though?”

“I said hi and you ignored me and then walked away,” Sangah says pathetically, pouting and slumping down in her seat. 

Instead of seeming mad or annoyed or anything else that Sangah expected from Dior after her admission of just how ridiculous she is, Dior instead looks embarrassed. “I really didn’t mean to upset you. I just— I thought you were really pretty and got nervous and ran away.”

Now it’s Sangah’s turn to feel embarrassed. “You think I’m pretty?”

“You’re one of the prettiest girls I’ve ever seen,” Dior says, and Sangah can’t detect an ounce of a lie in her voice. “I’ve kinda had a crush on you ever since and so I was so excited when we got assigned to work together, but then you seemed to dislike me so much and I never knew what I did.” 

“We’re kinda dumb, aren’t we?” 

“Just a bit.” A beat. Then, “How about we start over?”

Sangah tilts her head with a frown. “Start over?”

“We forget about that first meeting where I made an absolute dick out of myself and we pretend we just met now,” Dior explains. She sticks her hand out over the table and then says, “Hi, I’m Dior.”

Sangah reaches out and takes her hand and shakes it. Her hands are soft. “Sangah. Want to go on a date with me?”

The question comes as a shock to both of them, Sangah blurting it out without even thinking about it, but she tries to will the blush off her cheeks as Dior already admitted to having a crush on her, so it’s her move next.

“I’ll make it the best date you’ve ever been on.”

Their hands are still linked across the table and Sangah feels reluctant to let go, but it’s getting uncomfortable, so she unfortunately has to.

The two smile at each other shyly across the table, but the moment is quickly interrupted by Sangah’s phone ringing. She sees it’s Minji and quickly answers. “What’s up?”

“Can you come? I’m worried,” is all Minji says, but that’s enough for Sangah to forget about everything to go to Minji.

“I’m on my way now. See you soon. Love you.”

“Love you, too,” Minji says, but it’s not with their normal enthusiasm.

Sangah hangs up the phone and then turns to Dior. “Minji really needs me, I’m sorry. Is it okay if I go?”

Dior nods. “Of course. Let me know how she is, okay?”

Sangah nods, already grabbing her stuff and making her way to the door. Dior follows after her. “Thank you for the pizza, by the way. And for forgiving my stupidity.”

“Don’t worry about it. This weekend for our date?”

Sangah blushes at the mention of their date again. She can’t believe she’s actually going on a date with Dior. She’s always had a small crush on her, even if she never wanted to admit it to herself, and now that she’s got past her ridiculousness of deciding that Dior’s her enemy she only feels excited at the prospect. “Sounds good.”

As Sangah’s about to step out of the door, Dior leans in and presses a gentle kiss to her cheek, then pulls back and giggles. “See you soon, Sangah.”

Sangah is so flustered that she can’t even find a single word to say, so instead she waves and runs away. 

As she’s leaning against the railing at the bottom of the stairs, out of sight of Dior’s front door, she lets out a giggle herself. She’s so ecstatic. 

* * *

Minji’s mum turns out to be fine, just a minor fall that had Minji (rightfully) worrying. But, even so, Sangah still sleeps over at Minji’s flat when they return back to uni just to make sure that they’re okay. 

They’re eating breakfast together, the pancakes that Minji usually makes because they don’t really know how to make much else. 

“How was it yesterday, by the way?” Minji asks around a mouthful of pancakes. “Sorry I abandoned you with Dior.”

Sangah realises that she never told Minji about the fact that she’s got a date with Dior, too caught up in the moment and wanting to make sure that Minji was okay to even think about her own life. “Oh, uh, it was fine,” Sangah says vaguely, shoving another bite of pancake into her mouth.

Minji squints their eyes suspiciously. “Im Sangah, what are you hiding from me?”

Sangah recounts the story of Dior asking her about why Sangah has a problem with her and them starting over, ending with, “And then when I was leaving she told me she’s excited for our date and kissed my cheek and I think I died a bit inside.” Sangah can’t help but let the excitement burst out of her as she tells Minji. She didn’t realise  _ just _ how excited she was until this very moment and how much she’d been wanting to tell her best friend. 

“I’m happy for you,” Minji says with a smile, but it doesn’t quite reach their eyes.

Sangah ignores it, thinking maybe she just imagined it or something, but something has changed. Minji seems far quieter than they were before Sangah said anything, and there’s this distant, distracted look they get in their eyes when they think Sangah isn’t looking. 

Eventually, Sangah can’t help but ask. “What’s wrong? You seem weird.”

Minji shrugs. “Nothing’s wrong. I’m fine.” They don’t look at Sangah as they say it, though, and so Sangah knows it’s not the truth.

“Come on, what is it? You can tell me. Did I do something?”

Minji doesn’t reply. 

“Minjiiiii,” Sangah tries, tugging on their sleeve and pouting the way she always does when she wants something from Minji.

Except, instead of playfully insulting Sangah like they usually do, Minji turns and tugs their sleeve out of Sangah’s grip, going as far as standing up and going to the other side of the room, pretending to be getting something from the fridge. “Leave me alone, okay?”

Sangah slumps, feeling tears spring to her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she says simply. She has no idea what she’s done wrong to make Minji so mad, but it’s obvious they don’t want Sangah around, so she grabs her bag and approaches the door. 

Minji still says nothing to Sangah. They don’t even turn around to look at her. 

Sangah sighs and opens the door. “See you tomorrow,” she says.

And without a goodbye from Minji, she leaves. 

* * *

The last place Sangah expects Dior to take her to for a date is a farm. She’d told Sangah to dress casual in something she didn’t mind getting dirty which should’ve tipped Sangah off that this wouldn’t be a typical date, but it hadn’t properly registered quite what would happen until the farm came into view.

“Who owns this?” Sangah asks as they follow the path down to the house. There are huge pastures either side of them and Sangah feels excitement course through her veins as she sees horses gallop past her. 

“My friend Dodo,” Dior says. “She lives here with her wife, Hyunja.”

There’s another question Sangah has to ask, too. “How did you know I love animals?”

“You talk about them a lot at society. I overheard it, I guess, and never forgot.”

Sangah didn’t realise how much Dior noticed her, didn’t expect her to even pay any sort of attention to Sangah, but it seems she’s a very observant person. “Thank you. This is, like, the perfect first date.”

“We haven’t even had the date yet and you already think it’s perfect?” Dior says with a chuckle. “I did good, then.”

“Any date with you would be perfect.”

The satisfying blush on Dior’s cheeks brings a smile to Sangah’s face.

After they follow the winding path down to the house, Sangah notices that there are two horses outside of the house and holding their leads so they don’t run away are two  _ extremely _ beautiful women. Is everyone in Dior’s life just incredibly beautiful or is Sangah just incredibly gay? That’s the age old question she always has to wonder about. 

“Hi, you must be Sangah,” the woman with cropped brown hair says, a smile on her face. “I’m Hyunja and this is Dodo.” She gestures to the other woman beside her who gives an equally as welcoming smile. “Ready to ride some horses?”

Sangah turns to Dior with an excited clap. “We get to ride them? Really?”

Dior nods, looking pleased at Sangah’s excitement. “I asked Hyunja and Dodo to walk them along for us because I wasn’t sure about your experience with riding.”

Sangah hasn’t actually ridden a horse before, so she’s glad that they won’t just be left to their own devices because she can only imagine how poorly that might end. She’s also glad that she chose to wear jeans on this date instead of a skirt like she usually does, because that definitely wouldn’t be the most appropriate for horse riding.

With Hyunja’s assistance, she climbs up onto the huge horse. It’s slightly terrifying being so high off the ground and depending on an animal to keep her upright and Sangah finds herself gripping the reigns rather tightly. 

“Don’t look so nervous,” Dior says, giving Sangah a reassuring smile. “She’s gentle. You’ll be just fine.”

Sangah does her best to give a smile back, but she’s pretty sure it comes out as more of a grimace than a smile. “Okay, we can move now,” she says once she feels comfortable on the horse. 

Slowly, Hyunja leads the horse away from the house. 

Sangah finds herself somehow gripping the reigns even tighter, but after a few minutes she feels herself relaxing more. She’s not sure she’s completely comfortable with horse riding just yet, but it’s quite exciting to feel on top of the world, being led around the farm by Hyunja with Dodo leading Dior’s horse beside her.

None of them speak as they do a few laps of the house, but Sangah and Dior share shy smiles and quick glances as they’re led around.

Eventually, Dior asks that they stop and Hyunja helps Sangah to get back down off the horse and she finds herself unsteady on her feet when they touch the ground again, but Dior is quick to run over to steady her. 

“Sorry, first time and all,” Sangah says, embarrassed. 

“Dior fell off the first time she ever got on a horse,” Dodo says with an amused twinkle in her eye. “I mean, she was, like, five, but it was kinda funny.”

Dior smacks Dodo, but there’s a smile on her face as she does it. “Don’t embarrass me, idiot.”

“Anyway, we should leave you two to the rest of your date. If you need anything you know where to find us,” Hyunja says and starts leading Dodo away and into the house, presumably to stop her telling more embarrassing stories about Dior.

With Hyunja and Dodo gone, Sangah feels nervous all over again. She’s never actually been on a date with anyone before, something that she definitely won’t be admitting to Dior anytime soon for fear of exposing how inexperienced she is, and she doesn’t really know how to act.

Thankfully, Dior seems to have it all planned out. “May I?” she asks, holding out her palm towards Sangah.

It takes Sangah a second to realise what she’s asking, but when she does she giggles and puts her hand in Dior’s, letting Dior thread their fingers together. 

God, her hands are soft. 

Dior leads Sangah away from the house and out into one of the fields that surrounds it. Sangah can see something in the distance but she can’t quite make out what it is until they get closer, and when she does she realises it’s a picnic blanket with a huge selection of food laid out on it. 

Sangah can’t believe all the effort Dior’s gone to. It makes her regret the way she felt towards Dior for so long instead of just admitting that she had a crush on her, because she could’ve had this all along. Sangah definitely made a mistake. “You did all this?” 

“Hyunja and Dodo helped a lot, but yeah. I wanted to try and make up for ruining your first impression of me.” Dior takes a seat on the picnic blanket, not letting go of Sangah’s hand as she does so. 

“I think that was more me than you, but thank you, Dior, really. This is more effort than you had to go for me.”

Dior shakes her head. “It’s not. If I’m going to win your heart, I’m going to go all out.”

Sangah raises an eyebrow at that. “Win my heart, huh?”

“That’s the goal.” Dior opens one of the tubs that’s sitting on the blanket and holds it out to Sangah. It’s filled with finger sandwiches with various different fillings, judging by the variety of colours Sangah sees. “Everything’s vegan, just in case, as I know you chose that option when we ate pizza.”

Sangah’s heart swells. She completely forgot to warn Dior that she doesn’t eat meat, only mentioning it vaguely when they’d shared a pizza as Dior had mentioned, so her going out of her way to cater to it without completely knowing makes Sangah feel special. Sangah takes one of the finger sandwiches, and then another, then another. She ends up trying a little bite of all of the food that’s laid out before them, amazed by how good it all is. 

“Hyunja’s a chef,” Dior explains when Sangah asks. “All credit for the food goes to her because I’m useless at it.”

“Oh, don’t worry, me too.”

After they devour enough food to fill them both up for the rest of the day, Sangah lies back on the grass, Dior lying down next to her. Their hands are still intertwined between them and Dior gently runs her thumb up and down Sangah’s.

“That one looks like a heart,” Sangah says, pointing up at one of the clouds with her free hand.

Dior does the same, pointing up at a different cloud that floats by overhead. “That one’s a dog.”

Sangah doesn’t see it, but she decides not to argue. They end up listing off various different shapes and objects as they watch the clouds pass by them, and Sangah finds herself starting to drift off into sleep.

But every time her eyes close, Sangah forces herself to open them again. She can’t just fall asleep on a first date, that’d be disastrous. 

It’s only then that Sangah realises that Dior’s thumb has stilled and that she hasn’t spoken in a while. Sangah lifts her head slightly to see that Dior’s eyes are shut and she’s fast asleep.

Ever so carefully, Sangah slips her phone out of her pocket and snaps a quick photo of Dior.

She looks beautiful, like an angel, with a halo of her hair spread out around her. 

The movement of Sangah putting her phone back in her pocket must jostle Dior as her eyes snap open. “Oh, fuck, how long was I out for?”

“A few minutes at most.”

Dior looks downright embarrassed. It’s adorable. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep, god. This is so embarrassing.”

“You’re beautiful,” is all Sangah’s brain can come up with. Then, panicked, she sits up, Dior following right after.

“You mean it?”

“Of course I mean it.” Sangah has never meant anything more in her life. 

“Sangah?”

Sangah turns to look at Dior and there’s this soft look on her face that Sangah can’t quite believe is directed at her. “Yes?”

“Can I kiss you?”

Saying yes is the easiest thing in the world.

* * *

The progress into girlfriends after their first date is a quick and easy one, but it still makes Sangah nervous when she texts Dior to ask if she wants to be her girlfriend, despite knowing there was no way that Dior would say no.

Walking into their LGBT+ society meeting hand in hand comes as a shock to everyone in their society, apparently, but also comes with many congratulations from both their friends and from people neither of them had ever really spoken to, but who they know just from being in the same space once a week for so long. 

Minji is the last one to approach Sangah and Dior after it calms down for them a bit and everyone goes back to doing their own thing instead of focusing on the new couple. 

“Congratulations,” Minji says with a smile. 

“Thanks, Minji,” Sangah and Dior say at the same time, turning to look at each other and laughing when they realise they’ve done so. 

“Can we talk?” Minji asks, looking at Sangah.

Sangah nods and lets go of Dior’s hand with a final squeeze before following Minji out of the room and into the corridor outside where they can have more privacy. Minji looks out of sorts and Sangah feels her heart clench. 

“I’ve missed you,” Sangah says before Minji can even get a word out, the need to remind her friend just how important they are to her spilling out of her. It’s only been a few days since they had that stupid argument, but Sangah had been too afraid to text Minji after in case they were still mad and Minji hadn’t reached out which had only confirmed Sangah’s suspicions in her mind. If she didn’t have Dior to spend her time with and keep her distracted Sangah’s sure she’d have struggled a lot more not talking to her best friend.

“I missed you, too,” Minji says, guilt written all over their face. “I’m sorry. I just overreacted because I wasn’t feeling great and then I didn’t know how to apologise to you. I’m really sorry, Sangah.”

Sangah wastes no time in pulling Minji into her chest in a tight hug. She rubs her hand up and down Minji’s back. “You don’t need to be sorry, okay? We’re fine now.”

Minji squeezes Sangah back just as tight and smiles when Sangah gently kisses their forehead before finally releasing them. “You’re the best,” Minji says.

“Not the worst?” Sangah asks jokingly, referring to all the times Minji has said those words to her. 

Minji grins. “Not this time.”

“Should we go back inside, honey?” Sangah asks.

Minji nods. “Sure.”

When they get inside, Minji says, “I’m going to leave you and Dior to it, though. I need to catch up with Yeojoo.”

Sangah doesn’t even get a chance to process before Minji is off and talking to Yeojoo and Wonhee without even looking back. 

She stares after her best friend, wondering why they seem to be acting so strange even though they’d apologised and Sangah thought it was all fine now, but she puts it down to Minji just wanting to give Sangah and Dior some more time together (not that it bothers either of them to have Minji around, but maybe they assume it does.)

For the rest of the meeting as everyone sits around chatting Sangah finds herself continuing to glance over in Minji’s direction in the hopes that they’ll look back over to her.

They never do. 

* * *

Ever since things got weird with Minji, Sangah can’t help but feel down constantly. She tries to keep herself upbeat and feeling normal and happy, but the lingering thought that things just aren’t right with her best friend won’t leave her. Dior notices that’s something up, too, Sangah can tell, but she doesn’t say anything until a few days have passed and Sangah and Dior find themselves cuddling in Sangah’s bed.

“Okay, let’s hear it,” Dior says suddenly. 

Sangah tries to look over her shoulder to frown at Dior, but with Dior pressed against her back holding Sangah tightly it’s impossible. “What?”

“You’re mopey. Tell me why.” 

They both know Dior already has it figured out, it’s obvious enough, but it’s sweet of her to pretend that she doesn’t know so that Sangah can tell her herself. With a sigh, Sangah says, “Minji. They keep acting weird with me and avoiding me. We’ve been friends since we were kids and this has never happened. I don’t get it.”

Dior hums to show she’s listening. Then, she asks a question that Sangah definitely wasn’t expecting. “Have you ever dated anyone before me?”

“No, but what does that have to do with this?” Sangah asks. How is this possibly relevant when they were just talking about Minji? Dior can be confusing.

Dior sighs and shifts, letting go of Sangah and sitting up in bed. 

Sangah, confused, follows Dior and sits up facing her. 

Dior reaches out and holds Sangah’s hands in her own and says, “There’s something I want to say, but I don’t want you to take it the wrong way, so just hear me out, okay?”

Sangah is so incredibly confused, but she nods anyway. If there’s something Dior actually wants to look at her face to say, it must be important. 

“You’re going to deny this right away, I already know, but think on it a bit,” Dior says. She looks directly into Sangah’s eyes. “Have you ever considered that maybe you and Minji have feelings for each other?”

Sangah’s first instinct is to deny it, to tell Dior that that’s completely absurd and they’re nothing but best friends, always have been, but that’s exactly what Dior said her reaction would be. So, instead, Sangah clamps her mouth shut and tries to think over Dior’s suggestion, even if she thinks it’s completely wrong and doesn’t even need considering.

A silence falls over the room as Sangah sits there, deep in thought, running over all the possible evidence there is that could possibly lead to Dior coming to the conclusion she’s come to.

Sure, Sangah and Minji have always been overly clingy with each other ever since they were kids, and sure, Sangah always daydreamed growing up that one day her and Minji would get married and move into a house together with a bunch of dogs and okay, maybe Sangah has thought about kissing Minji more times than she cares to admit. But that’s just them being close friends, right?

“Oh, holy fuck,” Sangah says suddenly, eyes wide. “Oh shit, you’re right.” How could she have been so oblivious all this time to her own feelings? And to Minji’s, too, because it only makes sense that that might be why they’re avoiding Sangah now she has a girlfriend. There was always this something  _ more _ that Sangah noticed whenever the two of them would be affectionate with each other or tell each other they love each other, but it’s a line neither of them ever dared to cross.

“Oh my god, Dior, I’m so sorry.” Sangah refuses to look at her girlfriend as she says it, embarrassed that she led Dior on like this.

Except, she didn’t lead Dior on, did she? Her feelings for Dior are strong, so strong, and she’s never felt this way about anyone before except, well, Minji. 

“It’s not a bad thing and you don’t have to apologise,” Dior says. She lifts Sangah’s chin so she can look at her again and there’s not a hint of upset or hurt on Dior’s face, just a genuine smile. “I always had a crush on both of you, honestly, and I had a feeling there was something more there, but I never dared to ask. Then, when we got together, I could see the rift it created between the two of you and I can’t help but feel responsible.”

“You’re not responsible. I should’ve realised sooner and I’m sorry if you’re uncomfortable now. You deserve a girlfriend who loves only you.” Sangah can’t help but feel guilt consume her.

“You know, Sangah, depending on what Minji says, I’m not against you having a relationship with both of us.”

Sangah stares at Dior in shock, but still she can’t find a hint of anything negative on Dior’s face.

“You care for us both, I care for you both, and I know Minji cares for you so much, too. We can make this work.”

But Sangah shakes her head, because she can’t imagine it working out like that. “The only way I’m doing that if it’s the three of us. Together. Not you and me and me and them. If Minji wants that, of course.”

Dior’s eyes light up even more somehow. “I was hoping you’d say that,” she admits quietly. “I really like you, Sangah, a lot, and I really like Minji, too, and a relationship between the three of us would be perfect.”

Sangah smiles, but then she remembers that just because her and Dior are on the same page, doesn’t mean Minji is. “What do I even say to them?”

“I don’t mind doing the talking,” Dior offers and Sangah breathes a sigh of relief. She couldn’t imagine being the one admitting this all to Minji. It’s scary enough talking about it now with Dior. “We can talk to them next time we see them, yeah? If you’re sure you want this?”

“I’m sure.” Sangah pulls Dior in for a hug and squeezes her tight. “Thank you, Dior. Thank you for everything.”

“Anything for you, my love.”

* * *

Sangah doesn’t think she’s ever felt more nervous in her entire life. Her leg jiggles beneath the table, occasionally bumping against the leg of the table and making the whole table shake, which she can only hope Minji doesn’t realise is her. 

Sangah feels a heavy weight on her thigh, stopping it from moving, and sneaks a look down to see that Dior’s hand is splayed across her bare thigh. She swallows and forces her leg to stop shaking. 

Dior lets go, still talking to Minji about her thoughts on what they can do to change their song around, and it’s as if it never happened in the first place. 

Sangah tries to tune her ears back into the conversation happening before her, but she finds that she just can’t focus on it. Their project just seems like such a small, irrelevant thing compared to what she’s just waiting to happen. (Of course, Sangah logically knows that her project is important, but right now it’s the last thing on her mind.)

Dior keeps glancing over at Sangah, clearly sensing her distress and anxiety, but Sangah tries not to look back at her as she doesn’t want to make it obvious to Minji that she’s clearly not focused on the conversation in the slightest.

Apparently, Minji had picked up on it quite easily. “Okay, seriously, what is it with you two?” Minji asks, looking between the two of them. “You’ve both been acting weird since you got here. Spill.”

Sangah’s leg starts bouncing again. She refuses to meet Minji’s eyes, instead staring at a spot on the wall over their shoulder, despite Minji’s clear attempts to get Sangah to look at her.

With Sangah not cooperating, Minji looks to Dior instead. 

Dior sighs and shakes her head, Sangah can see it out of the corner of her eye. “We wanted to tell you something.”

“‘We’?” Minji asks. “Both of you?”

Sangah nods, probably the first move she’s made to communicate with either of them since she first arrived, but she doesn’t dare open her mouth. 

“Okay?” Minji is clearly confused and Sangah suddenly feels an overwhelming urge to tell Dior that this is a mistake and anything that she says is going to ruin her friendship with Minji forever.

But it’s too late now. Dior’s already said that something’s going on, and Sangah can’t see Minji giving up until they find out what it is. 

“Well?” Minji prompts again when neither Sangah nor Dior make the move to speak.

Dior looks to Sangah, a silent question in her eyes. 

Against everything in her body screaming at her that this is a bad idea, Sangah nods. 

Dior gives a small, reassuring smile and then turns back to Minji. Beneath the table, Sangah feels a hand grab her own and give it a squeeze and she feels her heart calm down a notch. 

“Sangah and I have talked about our relationship and what we think we want from it,” Dior starts, only confidence in her voice.

And yet, Sangah can feel the way Dior’s hand shakes in her own and she knows that the confidence is simply a front. She rubs her thumb gently over Dior’s hand to try and stop her from shaking. 

“We realised that while we both have feelings for each other and we want to stay together, we also share feelings for someone else.”

And the cat’s out of the bag. There’s no taking it back now. It’s all out in the open.

Except, Minji just looks downright confused. “Why are you telling me all of this?”

Sangah finally finds her voice. “It’s you, Minji. You’re that person.”

Minji blinks once. Twice. “Me?” they echo. “You have feelings for me? Both of you?”

“We do,” Dior confirms. “Obviously, it’s up to you what you want to do with that information, but I know that Sangah and I would be very happy to have you join our relationship, as long as that’s what you want, too.”

The seconds that pass by as they wait for a reply from Minji to that feel like torture to Sangah. Every second feels like a punch to her gut, and the longer the silence stretches on, the more set she feels that they made a mistake doing this.

The fear that maybe she’s just lost her best friend crawls out from deep inside her and clouds her brain. 

It clouds her brain so much, in fact, that she doesn’t hear the next words that come from Minji or Dior as she feels the panic start to rise up her throat. 

“Sangah? Hey, Sangah. Look at me.” 

Sangah’s eyes focus back in to find Dior and Minji’s faces much closer to hers than they were before. She feels hands on her cheeks, Minji’s, and Dior’s hand is still gripping hers tightly. 

“Can you hear me?” Minji asks, worry filling their voice. 

Sangah nods mutely. 

“Thank god. What happened?”

“I panicked. I think.” Sangah’s throat feels like sandpaper as she tries to speak. Where’s a glass of water when she needs one? “I’m sorry, Minji. I’m sorry.”

Minji frowns. “You’re sorry? Why?”

Sangah feels taken aback. Did she completely miss something? “I— I thought maybe I ruined our friendship.”

“If by ruining our friendship you mean we’re in a relationship now, then yeah, you did.”

Sangah’s heart leaps for joy and a smile that she can’t hold back breaks out on her face. “Really?”

Minji nods and there are tears in their eyes. “I’ve always loved you, Sangah, but I never knew how to tell you.” Then, they turn to Dior, their hands still cupping Sangah’s cheeks. “And I’m sorry I was always kinda awkward around you, Dior, but I never know how to act around the girls I like.”

“I think that’s a trait all of us share,” Dior jokes. “But thank you, Minji, for listening and not thinking we’re both complete weirdos.”

“Complete weirdos?” Minji asks, laughing. “Dating the two of you is all I’ve wanted for a while, I just never knew it could be a possibility.”

Sangah feels like she’s bursting at the seams with the happiness that overwhelms her. “So, my wonderful girlfriend and partner, can we say fuck this project and go cuddle on the sofa while watching some cheesy movies?”

Dior and Minji are more than happy to oblige Sangah’s request. 

***

“It’s perfect,” Dior says with a smile on her face. 

Sangah twirls around slowly, taking in the scenery around her - the huge farmhouse, the stable, the fields stretching as far as the eye can see, and the wooded area off a little in the distance. “I can’t believe we actually did it. We bought a house.”

“Not even just a house,” Minji says, “a whole farm. All to ourselves.”

Minji and Dior are standing a little further ahead than Sangah, hand in hand, gazing adoringly upon their new land 

Sangah goes and joins them, taking each of their free hands into her own so they’re standing in a little circle. She barely holds herself back from bouncing on her feet in her excitement. “We did it. We really did it.”

“Who would’ve thought all those years ago when we first got together we’d finally be here?” Minji asks. 

“I knew we would,” Dior says with a nod. “I knew we’d do it.”

Sangah beams at her, warmth filling her chest with the happiness that Dior always believed in them. Sangah believed in them too, she knew they’d spend the rest of their lives together and get through everything, but she never was sure if Dior and Minji felt the same.

Minji squeezes Sangah’s hand. “The question is, though, which animal do we get first?”

“A dog,” Dior says instantly. “We’re getting a dog.”

Sangah forces herself to keep her face neutral, to not betray anything with a smile. The corners of her lips twitch, but she fights it, somehow. “We should go inside.”

Sangah reluctantly lets go of their hands to make it easier for them to walk. She hangs back slightly when they reach the door of their house, as does Minji, allowing Dior to be the first to open the door. 

As soon as she does, a tiny ball of fluff comes running out. It bounds up to Sangah, so she crouches and fusses over the puppy. “You were meant to stay inside and be a surprise,” she scolds, even though she knows the dog won’t understand her. 

Sangah looks up to see Dior’s face as the epitome of shock and happiness. “A puppy? For us?”

Sangah nods. “She’s all yours to name.”

Instead of rushing to the puppy as Sangah thought she would, instead Dior throws her arms around Minji who’s next to her and pulls them into a hug. “Thank you. Thank you both so much.”

Sangah’s still stuck in a crouch with their new puppy trying to jump up and lick her face, but she smiles as she watches Dior kiss Minji all over their face. 

After Dior must deem Minji’s face adequately covered in kisses, they both turn to look at Sangah, beaming. 

“I love you both so much,” Dior says. 

“I love you both too,” Minji says. 

Sangah smiles. “Here’s to forever, right?”

“To forever,” they both agree. 

**Author's Note:**

> kudos & comments appreciated!!!
> 
> twitter: [@changkihyks](http://twitter.com/changkihyks/)  
> cc: [changkihyks](https://curiouscat.me/changkihyks?t=1559413679/)  
> 


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